• -☆-English
    79•11 hours ago

    A government official known for performing a nazi salute just broadcast an ableist slur.

    Cool cool cool

    • @[email protected]
      9•8 hours ago

      Civilized people should really coopt the word “removed” to mean Republican. I mean, they have the ® next to their names to remind us already.

      Then when someone takes offense you can just say

      Jesus Titty-Fucking Christ, Carol. Just because someone has a mental disability doesn’t make them a Republican!"

    • @[email protected]English
      2•6 hours ago

      btw do you know why it was decided to treat the r-word as an ableist slur? And why didn’t they also make “idiot” a slur, since it has basically the same etymology? Is this a lemmy-specific thing? I’ve never seen anyone use or interpret the r-word as a slur outside of lemmy

      • @[email protected]
        5•5 hours ago

        In contemporary language, that word (among others) is almost entirely used as an insult by way of equating somebody’s intelligence with those who have intellectual disabilities, which creates a negative connotation. Similarly, this is why we don’t say things we dislike are “gay” anymore. It’s disrespectful to the people who actually fall under the definition, and it proliferates negative associations with traits that people are stuck living with and had no choice in acquiring.

        The only reason “idiot” hasn’t followed suit is because it’s much more culturally ingrained, and there’s hasn’t been as significant of an attempt to change it as with other words.

        I’ve never seen anyone use or interpret the r-word as a slur outside of lemmy

        It’s not exclusive to Lemmy, but it is mostly left-leaning spaces or gen Z individuals who see it that way. Center and right-leaning spaces see treating the word as a slur to be censorship (as opposed to being respectful of others) and keep using it or actively push back by saying it more.

      • @[email protected]
        4•5 hours ago

        Not Lemmy specific. There was US legislation related to the word being deemed offensive fifteen years ago (given the slow nature of Congress, it wasn’t a new sentiment then, either): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa’s_Law

        Fair enough that plenty of insulting words could be cast as abelist: but my guess is that a word like “idiot” is old enough that most folks called that in a medical context aren’t around any more. Maybe I’m wrong though: plenty of folks do push against saying things like “crazy” in an insulting manner.